The LoCo Experience

Mike Root is the Founder of Copper Sky Distillery, Axiom Consulting Group, and the non-profit Kingdom Advancement Project - all based in Longmont, Colorado.  He’s also the author of For God & Country, a Discussion on Servant Leadership, especially directed toward the public sector class.  Mike learned organizational development with many years of government service, first in the military and then...

Amanda Frost of ProCopy Business Center in Longmont Colorado loved her job so much that the original owner of this thirty-three-year-old company offered to sell it to her!  She took over four years ago, and has grown the business significantly ever since!  She attributes some of her growth to their “clients are family” mindset. ProCopy strives to be the “community favorite” by always trying to pro...

Louann DeCoursey worked at iconic Fort Collins restaurant Panhandler's Pizza in Fort Collins as a youth, later spent time as a manger and then GM,  and was a major Pans Fan throughout the intervening years of raising a family and building a career in non-profit.  In the summer of 2017, the opportunity to purchase the business came to her radar, and her offer beat out 13 others!   In the time...

Jason Rogers is the founder of a Direct Primary Care practice called Starlight Health, based in Fort Collins, Colorado.  DPC represents a change in the business model of medicine, with a membership model providing access to a physician who can take the time to learn about patients and better care for their health. Jason's journey into medicine began in college, as a negative and challenging t...

Jerri Schmitz is a hero of mine, and an amazing example of putting faith in action to create lasting community change.  Jerri founded The Matthews House in 2005, a non-profit organization that now ranks (per CSU research) as among the most impactful in the state and region.  The Matthews House mission is to Empower youth and families by building trusting relationships and providing resources to di...

Kris Boesch is the CEO and Founder of Choose People and author of Culture Works: How to Create Happiness in the Workplace. Emotional health and intimacy directly correlate to the context and the culture within which your company’s team works. With over 1000 hours of research conducted with the Industrial Organizational Psychology Department at Colorado State University, she created Choose People 3...

Marchel Morningstar is the Owner/Operator of Consolidated Resource in Greeley, Colorado, and L & L Fabrication in Douglas, Wyoming, and he's traveled some wild and crazy roads along the path to building his successful enterprises.  He's been a key employee in a fast-growing supply business, a partner in a pipeline construction venture, and is now the owner of both a comprehensive facilit...

Dr. Jane Brewer is now in her 6th year of owning Precision Chiropractic who focuses on NeuroStructural Correction. Jane believes that this area of the neck is one of the most important things to take care of as it supports your head and the spine that holds everything together. She is a big advocate for taking care of yourself, “depositing health into your bank” as she puts it. Jane prides herself...

Sosamma Samuel-Burnett is the Founder and President of G.L.O.B.A.L. Justice - an NGO based in Loveland, Colorado but impacting organizations and individuals around the world.  G.L.O.B.A.L.'s mission is profound:  To extend Geopolitical Learning Opportunities for Biblical Advocacy & Leadership (G.L.O.B.A.L.) for local, national, and international communities to pursue justice ethically, creati...

AJ is a CSU engineering grad who went from working in bars and custom car restoration to a draft engineer to starting a solar company. Understanding that what we were doing yesterday is not going to work tomorrow, AJ takes us through the struggles of starting a business. Make optimal decisions versus quick ones. Planning, streamlining operations, and learning not to hire too soon, along with engag...

Blake Craig is the Co-Founder and Chief Labor Officer at Laborjack, LLC. Probably best understood as the Uber of Labor, Laborjack matches a flexible and ambitious labor force - mostly comprised of college students - with those needing stuff done. Initially conceived to become “The world’s largest moving company! - that doesn’t own any trucks”, Laborjack clients have now found hundreds of ways to e...

In this episode Curt sits down with Cheryl Benedict - owner of MORF Consulting and the author of The Wisdom of Transition, released in January 2020 just as the nation was (unknowingly) preparing for the abrupt transition of Covid lockdowns.  For this work, Cheryl received the Sound Advice Book Award as the Best New Author of 2020.   Throughout her career, Cheryl has helped hundreds and now thousan...

Craig and Molly Secher founded Realities for Children in 1995, which serves the otherwise unmet needs of thousands of abused, neglected, or at-risk youth in Larimer and Weld County, Colorado every year through direct services and emergency grants to over 30 nonprofit partners.   This innovative organization boasts over 250 give-back minded business members (of which LoCo Think Tank is one!) who re...

Jim Rohrer began his career as a young man in the Sears organization, and quickly rose through the ranks as an innovative thinker, new programs leader, and turnaround specialist for underperforming divisions.  Among his accomplishments were helping to turn around the auto services business for the company, and both building out and disposing of 10 regional call centers that supported the catalog....

In this episode of the LoCo Experience podcast, Curt sits down with Jeff Beyle, CEO and Co-Founder of Sticker Control.   Sticker Control makes Industry 4.0 tools accessible to small and medium size companies using RFID-powered analytics and optimization algorithms to drive efficiencies and system integration tools to break down data silos, all backed by AI-powered data preparation tools so our cus...

What I’m thinking after interviewing Ali Davachi, is that this man needs to be a LoCo Facilitator for a future Longmont / Boulder County chapter of LoCo Think Tank.  Stat. It’s the coveted win-win-win-win - 1) Ali would win because he’s working to down-size his role in his company RealWare, is a recent Colorado transplant from “back East” and would love more community connection, and has already c...

In today's episode, I'm joined by Pastors Aaron Santini and Daniel Smith of The Crossing Church in Fort Collins.  The Crossing was planted as a life group of Crossway Chapel in Greeley in the fall of 2009, and officially launched in March of 2010.  This episode details the very entrepreneurial journey of church planting, and shares the life stories of a couple of regular guys who've...

Jeff and Noah are "business neighbors" to LoCo Think Tank, and operate the Time Emporium Escape Rooms in Fort Collins and Loveland.   Jeff acquired Loveland Laser Tag in 2011 after a pair of false starts to his entrepreneurial journey, departing a stable career with Hewlett Packard which had moved him to Northern Colorado from his native Texas.  His experience with software and systems soon led to...

In this episode, Curt enjoys time with Peter Melby, CEO of Greystone Technology, only one week removed from their 20th birthday!  Peter shares important lessons from Greystone's founding and first years in business, and reflects on a business journey that has seen them achieve quarterly revenue growth for 50 straight quarters!   Greystone is unusual for an IT company, first for its' size...

Jacob Leis and his partner Brian Oaks are "a couple of farm kids from Eastern Colorado" who've been involved in political marketing almost since college.  They founded Wintermind Group in January of 2019, after their employer "went a different direction" on an internal project that they'd been working on together.  The partners' theory behind the project became the foundation for th...

Do you know how to grow your business past yourself? Eric Coet, Owner of 44 N and Strategic Practice Leader at Peak Solutions, shares his business strategy knowledge in this LoCo Shorts episode. Sometimes YOU are the greatest block to your success, that’s why identifying ways to grow beyond yourself is critical, even if you are a solopreneur (psst–Eric is!). Eric details his professional journey a...

Brandon Avery is a VP Risk Advisor for IMA Financial Group, heading the Commercial Insurance Division.  Sounds pretty boring, and Brandon would tell you that insurance isn't very exciting overall.  BUT - Brandon's business journey is very exciting!  Brandon formed a partnership in 2013 with Josh Fyhrie and together they built Colorado Insurance Advisors into a regional brand and 10X&apos...

Gavin Kaszynski (ka-shin-ski) and Todd Welter joined me on the LoCo Experience podcast to share their respective business journeys, and especially to discuss the challenges and their suggested fixes for the health insurance industry in America.   Gavin has newly transitioned to the role of CFO for the Orthopaedic & Spine Center of the Rockies - at the time of recording he was CFO at Associates in...

In this LoCo Shorts episode Ben West, Owner & Operator at Radial Development Group, shares his journey to creating a company he always wanted to work for. One with flexible work schedules, ample training, and great culture.  Ben shares his motivation to create Radial from his own experience with burnout (and how to prevent it). He also highlights ways to create a great culture that can support the...

Zach Mercurio is the author of The Invisible Leader, Founder of ZM Consulting, and Affiliate Professor for Colorado State University at the Center for Meaning and Purpose.   Zach is an expert on purpose, on purpose.  He's studied it, trained it, studied it more and shared what he's learned abundantly.  He's a Ph. D., further informed by a lot of elbow grease, research, and intention...